A movie about broken laws, lawyers, appeals and evidence, yet there are limited courtroom scenes. Truly this is a movie that those of us tired of dramatic closing statments that win the day can find appealing...get it? Appealing? Har har har!

Ahem, moving on.

Betty Ann and Kenny Waters are siblings who are tighter than a salty, wet knot on a sailing ship. But when Kenny is convicted of brutally murdering a local woman he is sentenced to life in prison without parole. Appeal after appeal gets them nowhere and pretty soon they are out of options and out of public lawyers who will take the case. Betty Ann (who absolutely believes her brother is innocent) decides that the only thing left to do is to go to law school so that she can defend her brother.

The fact that this movie was based on the true story that happened back in 1983 is just icing on this immaculate cake. This is one of those slowly powerful movies that slyly shoves you into the story, making you ask yourself defining questions. The scenes of these two characters together as children, displaying the real connection that they had was paramount to the emotional basis of this movie and done superbly. I found myself gracefully blubbering in the middle of the movie (which I rarely do, blubber gracefully that is).

Now, I'm not really a member of Hillary Swank's fan club, she's not my favorite actress to watch on screen, but one has to admit that she is a first rate actress and this movie was perfect for her. Unfortunately her hair will have you writhing in your seat, but I guess there just isn't much you can do to reverse the mistakes of the 1980's fashion past.
Sam Rockwell I think is truly one of those underrated actors but he really is fantastic! Didn't he just give you the willies in The Green Mile and didn't you hate him in Iron Man 2? But then you loved him in Everybody's Fine and if you had the horrible misfortune to see (and stay awake for) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford you felt for him. I couldn't have cast anyone better for this role in Conviction. He was lovable with an edge of greasy guilt you just couldn't ignore.
And that's not even to mention great performances by Minnie Driver and Juliette Lewis!

Motherly Advice: I had my filters set to medium for Disturbing Images and Violence and most for Profanity. I was saved from a boat load of swearing. That includes a whopping 55 'F' words (aren't their at least 55 other words in the English language that are equal to the task of expressing one's frustration?) Added to those 55 choice words are 50 other choice words you will likely want to choose to filter your ears for. ClearPlay carves out a scene that travels through the house where the murder in question has taken place and there is a lot of blood throughout the house and part of a dead body. Also edited are scenes where pictures are shown of the dead body. Some things that were still there that are sort of crucial to the story are descriptions of the murder where we learn that the victim was stabbed 30 times and other gruesome etcs. Because of these descriptions and the mature, adult plot of the movie I'm going to say it's appropriate for 17 and up.
This movie is certainly a 'should see'. If you want something slow, meaningful and well acted then pick this one up and prepare to ask yourself some defining questions. You'll be just as convinced of it's merit as I am...get it? Convinced for conviction? Wah ha ha!
Ahem, I apologize, I'm a sucker for puns.

ClearPlay brings Family Movie Night back HOME!

A great family movie night is easy when you use a ClearPlay DVD player and filters. Never again will you have to stumble around for the mute button on the remote or fast forward through questionable scenes.

Just set the player to skip the content you decide you don't want to watch, then sit back and enjoy the show in a seamless playback.

At ClearPlay we LOVE movies. Check out some of the great titles we have and bring Family Movie Night back HOME!

Movie Quote of the Time

"It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there-fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, old friends."

Subscribe To

ClearPlay Movie Moms & Film Fathers

We are excited to introduce the ClearPlay Movie Moms & Film Fathers- a select group of bloggers chosen to represent ClearPlay around the blogosphere through posts, giveaways, and fun movie themed events. Interested in joining the ClearPlay Movie Moms or Film Fathers? Send us an email to moviemoms@clearplay.com and let us know!

Shop for a ClearPlay DVD Player

Find Us Here:

Recent Tweets

Contact Us

Requests

Got a movie you want us to review before you potentially waste your time on it? Let us know and we'll watch it for you and let you know if it's worth seeing. Got a movie in theaters you can't decide if you should go see or wait for it to be filtered? We'll preview it for you and give you the thumbs up or thumbs down. Just leave us a comment with your request.